Chang plays for last time at French Open

Back in 1989, they were tears of joy after he won the tournament. On Tuesday, a lifetime later, they were tears of sadness after he hit his final shot here.

Chang's farewell to Roland Garros ended with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-1 loss to Fabrice Santoro in the same spot that the American claimed his lone major title.

''It's bittersweet,'' said Chang, who'll retire after the U.S. Open. ''It's disappointing to lose in the first round. But it feels good to be able to play my last match on center court.''

Also bidding adieu at the clay-court Grand Slam were No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick and three-time champion Monica Seles who might not be back. It looked as if defending champion Albert Costa would lose, too, but he constructed the biggest comeback of his career after being a game from defeat.

Roddick was considered capable of contending. He reached his first major semifinal at the Australian Open, and he won a clay-court tournament in Austria last weekend.

Instead, he heads home after the first round, just like last year, beaten by Sargis Sargsian 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. ''It's weird going from feeling like you're playing pretty well,'' Roddick said, ''to not really knowing what you're doing out there.''

He still has time to learn; this was only his 10th Grand Slam event.

Seles, by contrast, has played 40, winning nine. And she never exited in the first round until Tuesday's 6-4, 6-0 disappointment against Nadia Petrova.

Seles, 29, plans to take some time off to see if her injured feet heal. If they don't, she might retire.

''I know I'm in the later stages of my career. I don't have the luxury of taking five-to-six months off. At the same time, I don't want to have surgery,'' the tournament's 12th-seeded woman said.

Could this be her last French Open? ''If I can't practice the level that I want to, yeah, definitely. And if I can, then for sure not,'' she said, ''because this is not the way I would like to leave.''

Costa dropped that many in the first two sets alone against Sergio Roitman, a slender Argentine with one tour-level match victory and that came three years ago. Roitman lost in qualifying here, making it into the main draw only when players withdrew.

But he played like a star for nearly two hours Tuesday. With a laserlike forehand, he won the first two sets and led 4-1 in the third, then was a game from victory at 5-4. Costa, meanwhile, couldn't seem to control his shots or his temper. He yelled at himself and his coach (''What a disaster!'') and drew jeers from the crowd when he smashed his racket in the third set.

But Roitman's right leg and nerves began to cramp in the fourth set, and Costa pulled out a 6-7 (3), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory, the first time he's won after losing the first two sets.

No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who lost to Costa in the 2002 final, advanced in straight sets, while No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten each dropped a set. Tim Henman, the four-time Wimbledon semifinalist, also won and plays Todd Martin next.

Hewitt wasted four match points before defeating Brian Vahaly of the United States 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3.

Vahaly remembers watching Chang's run to the French Open title.

''He had incredible intensity,'' said Vahaly, 10 at the time. ''Americans didn't play well here then, and it was inspiring to see him.''

Chang, 31, no longer has the game that carried him to that championship and three other Grand Slam finals that he lost, including at the 1995 French Open.

''I love getting out there and competing,'' said Chang, honored in a postmatch ceremony. ''I just don't feel that I'm able to sustain it in the way that I have.''

He's won one ATP Tour match all year, is ranked 142nd, and he needed a wild-card invitation to get into his 16th straight French Open. He started well but quickly faded against Santoro, a 30-year-old Frenchman on the downside of his career.

''I have so many images in my head from his victory in 1989. It seems so odd to me that he's leaving,'' said Santoro, who ended a seven-match losing streak.

After his last point at Roland Garros, Chang turned to the ballboys and motioned: He wanted the match balls, which he put in his racket bag. The fans gave Chang a standing ovation for several minutes while he slowly walked to the middle of the court twice to wave goodbye.

How long has he been around? His French Open debut, as a wild-card entry in 1988, ended with a third-round loss to John McEnroe. The next year, Chang became the first U.S. man to win at Roland Garros since Tony Trabert in 1955 and the youngest Grand Slam winner ever.

One reporter wondered Tuesday how Chang has changed since those heady days.